Thoughts Control Avatar-Like Robot

We've reported on robots that recognize human gestures and a robotic exohand that gives a human hand superhuman strength. Researchers have taken these abilities a few steps further using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to enable thought control of a robot thousands of miles away.

In a scenario reminiscent of the movie Avatar, the researchers used an fMRI machine to scan the brain activity of Tirosh Shapira, a university student in Israel, in real-time. By imagining moving different parts of his body, Shapira controlled a small, humanoid robot located in France at the Béziers Technology Institute. The commands were sent over an Internet connection. A camera mounted on the robot's head let Shapira view its environment.

Before the experiment, Shapira received training by researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. During training, he tried to direct a virtual avatar by imagining himself moving one of his legs or hands. Using changes in blood flow to the brain's primary motor cortex measured by the fMRI scanner, the team created an algorithm to distinguish among different thoughts about moving different body parts.

When Shapira imagined moving his legs, the robot walked forward. Thinking about moving either his left or right hand made the robot turn 30 degrees to the left or right. Since time is required between the beginning of neural activity and the point at which an intended movement can be classified, this caused a short communication delay. (Watch a video here of the robot being controlled by thought to follow another person.)

The experiment's long-term goal is to create a surrogate that works like the one in the movie, said Abderrahmane Kheddar, director of the joint robotics laboratory at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan, in an article in New Scientist detailing the research. The Institute is part of the international Virtual Embodiment and Robotic Re-embodiment (VERE) project.

The VERE project is focused on two goals: Avatar-like embodiment in a remote, surrogate robotic body controlled via a brain-computer interface, and virtual reality embodiment with a virtual representation. Applications are the rehabilitation and training by virtual embodiment of people who are confined to a bed or wheelchair, and physical, robotic embodiment for people who are immobilized.

The project's fundamental research areas include neuroscience, constructing embodiment machines that deliver virtual sensory data to and read signals from participants, monitoring brain and physiological signals to recognize the participants' intentions, embodying their intentions in actions by a physical robot, the technology underlying virtual embodiment, and a software development platform.

The researchers say the next step is to improve the robot surrogate by upgrading to the HRP-4, made by Kawada Industries in Japan. This robot has a more stable and dynamic walk, and is almost the height of a human, which will increase the feeling of actual embodiment, said Kheddar.

78RPM, the technology is still crude. As the article states, the robot's arm and leg movements are being controlled by thought to follow another person. But this doesn't include thought control of the entire body to keep it upright. So the robot still needs to be held up by another person so it won't fall over.

Yes, TJ, I agree. We know that the technology of gesture recognition is already possible. We have also seen Japanese robots that (who?) can walk upright. What bothered me about the video is that the robot had to be supported by a second human. Magicians know that this leaves wide open the possibility that the whole claim of "remote" thought control was just a twist of the operator's wrist.

Is this new technology or just a brand of religion seeping into wishful geeks and dweebs?

@Charles Murray: Thanks for the link. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is an incredible place. My godfather was there recently after a major stroke. This was during the time that Senator Mark Kirk was there. There is nothing good about having a stroke, but the level of care they provide is amazing.

In a much more crude fashion, Dave, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in 2005 "re-wired" the body of a man who lost both arms as the result of an electrical accident. By thinking, he can move the fingers on one of his artificial arms. It's not nearly as elegant as the solution shown here, but it shows we're moving toward a Sam Worthington-type of solution.

Regarding sci-fi and robotics, science fiction stories (not movies) predicted all kinds of advances only now being realized in robotics and other technologies, but they did this decades ago. We now have the technologies to make these robots, and movie-making finally has good enough CGI to realize many of these abilities on-screen.

Thanks, Dave. As we mention in the article, the main apps are indeed rehab for those that can be rehabilitated. For those that can't because they're paralyzed, the goal is physical embodiment like in the movie.

I seems that, science fiction screenplay writers are the driving force behind such innovations. In most of the science fiction movies there are some robots with extra ordinary habits and movements, which are controlled from remote location. I think such visualization capacity motivates the scientists and engineers to work towards for successful realization in real world environment.

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